There are about 1.1 million animals in captivity worldwide. Zoos often lack the resources to take care of the animals. Some zoos seem to get the smallest cages that they can for the animals.
The behavior of captive animals is not what one would see in the wild. Animals can have mental health problems. Black bears have obsessive-compulsive disorder. Giraffes have anxiety. Big cats show stress and anxiety. They eat too little. Monkeys tend to pull out their hair.
Zoos can’t provide the same space that animals have in the wild. Wild elephants live three times longer. Lions have 18,000 less square feet of space than they would if they were in the wild. Zoos choose baby animals and leave parents in the wild, also controlling their mating. According to In Defense of Animals, sometimes when animals get too old, they are killed or sold to hunting ranches or curbside zoos.
I feel that the animals should be left in the place that they were found. Zoos seem to only put the animals through more stress and put them in a place of bad mental health more than they do any good.
It seems like some zoos only care about the profit more than they care about the animals.
Faith Hanson, Spruce Mountain High School, Jay, class of 2027
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